PagesPat's Ponderings

Sunday, January 31, 2010

I was busy cropping this weekend! Got my Heritage pages finished. We have an heirloom dress in the family. my grandmaother's mom made hers and three other dresses for my gram and her cousins. These are the 16-27 year old girls posing in them above. This was circa 1926-27. That's the 1st generation to wear the dress.

Shown above here are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations to wear the dress. My mom and aunt, then me, my sisters, my cousin, and finally my daughter. The last photo comes full circle with my daughter wearing the dress pictured with her great grandma! I am working on the journaling, as I feel it is too important to just write on the spot.

Above is a two page 8x8 layout of our last girls' day out, which was a three day weekend in Port Washington, WI.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Okay, I know it's only January, but I feel empowered because I am keeping up with my picture-taking, and scrapping, of the year 2010. Above is the second week of January and its highlights. This month's papers are mostly from My Mind's Eye, the Signature Christmas Hoiliday Glitter Book, to be exact.

The pages are so full of the photos and journaling that I don't really have the room to go hog-wild with embellishments, and I'm okay with that. Above, I used part of the paper design for my journaling block. I've gotten lazy with matting my photos as well, cutting them with a thin white border.

Last Saturday while I was at Heidi's crop, I finished my photos up to 1/16, made five pages for my 2009 Christmas layout, started my son's Army Reserves album, and scrapped a couple more pages. my totals are at the bottom of my blog. I added another ticker for layouts other than my 2010 album, and another one for "Everything Else", which can include altered art, ATCs, anything other than cards and layouts.

I'm also using my stash and PIFg a lot of my extras. Gotta be ruthless in getting my craft room organized!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Boy, did I have fun on the Magnolia-licious Blog Hop. It's still going on, all day today, so hop on over to www.magnolialicious.blogspot.com to start on your path to inspiration!I made this card tonight after seeing the wonderful work the DT displayed for all hoppers.

The guidelines were to use a MAgnolia stamp and to make it PINK. I love how my card turned out. I used white core cardstock and distressed the edges, then added CTMH patterned paper and blinged the centers of the flowers. I colored jump roping Tilda with Copics, then glitzed her with Liquid Glass for some dimension. Since cutting around the jump rope was impossible, I adhered some green wire to her handles for a 3D jump rope. Then, I embellished with a wide polkadotted ribbon (rummage sale, a gazillion yards for 50 cents) and tied the middle with a thinner piece of ribbon, then tied it into a bow. Finally, I added two art deco photo corners to my cardfront.

This weekend, besides working on Sunday for a retreat for 92 teens (yes, I said 92 14 year olds all in one room for the day), I enjoyed Saturday in the company of friends and fellow crafters in Woodstock. My sister came and she finished 14 pages! I finished my granddaughter's mini album called "Daddy's House" so that even when she's not staying with us she can hug us. I also caught up with my 365 Days of Me album pages, scrapping up to 1/14. I started my son's Army Reserves album. He was sworn in last October and ships out to Basic Training in February. I borrowed Lisa's Cricut carts "Base Camp" and "United We Stand" and there are some great cuts in them. Thanks Lisa!

I made some envies for a swap that I had made cards and forgot to include the envelopes. I also scrapped a page for Bella's second year album, and stamped a few new images that Carol graciously lent me (thanks, Carol).

Whew, I'm tired after all that. Lucky I was off today, working in a school and all. Cleaned and organized my linen closet and cleaned out old medicines and organized the med basket as well. That was today's photo for my 2010 album--sure looks pretty in that closet now!

Monday, January 11, 2010

I received the image from a crafting friend and can't ID it. Anyone know who makes it?

I made a Valentine's carda and now a set of birthday cards with it. I had fun coloring her with my Copics, and almost but didn't quite keep in line with a monchromatic card. But I still like the colors. My daughter loves the one with white hair, because she thinks it looks "Manga". Sometimes it takes so little to please her!

I am starting one of those work weeks where I don't know when the next time I'll be able to come up for air. I have all my mailings ready to go to the P.O. tomorrow, and these cards I just finished, but now I better clean off my table. Who know swhen I'll be back to it! For that matter, I better pack up my scrappiong materials for the crop on Saturday. Tomorrow and Wednesday are my late days, since class isn't over until 7:30 pm. I'll have a whole day of cropping, then the next day I have to work an all-day retreat. Then back to work!

I would ask for a comp day, but Monday is a holiday for the school, so at least I'm off after the retreat.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

I found this image in a folder, one that was sent to me in a swap, and I thought she looked like she needed some color. So I took out my Copics and glitzed her a bit with Liquid Glass, Stickles and a few jewels. Then I attached her to some embossed cardstock, and added patterned paper.

Finally, I punched holes on the edge of the card and tied ribbons to each for a froufrou look. I like the way it turned out, something a little different than my usual card.

I think I'm going to set the theme of the Card Exchange Swap on Scrapbook Place Yahoo Groups to a Red and Pink-colored card for next month.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Seven 4x6 photos on two pages take up a lot of room, so on these pages you will not see a lot of embellishments. What you will see is a glimpse into my life, with a nice fat space for journaling. That's why I won't bore you with each and every page I make for this album. After all, you're here to see something new, something you might like to try yourself, something thaty might inspire.But I did want you to know that I've started like gangbangers on my 2010 scrapping goal. I have also purged quite a bit of items from my craft room. Using my stash to fill the pages of this album helped a bunch. Bringing my paper stash to a friend's house and using her cricut carts also depleted some of my stock. Not enough yet to allow me to purchase more paper (sigh) but enough to make me feel I'm off to a good start.

I used Copics to shade the white paper doily for my journaling this first week. I decided to go with white metal-rimmed tags for the dates on each photo,

except for the one of the Magnolia Calendar. The photo of January 7th is a view from inside my car after work. It had snowed non-stop while I was at the office, and took a while to clean off my car. Love the snow, but hate driving in it. Next time I hope we have a snowstorm on a weekend!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

This is from one of those "pass it along" emails I often get. I think it's good enough to share here:1. Drink plenty of water.2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.3. Eat more foods that grow on trees & plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.4. Live with Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy5. Make time to pray.6. Play more games.7. Read more books than you did in last year.8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.9. Sleep for 7 hours.10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.12. Don't worry over things you cannot control; invest your energy in the present moment.13. Don't over do it; keep your limits.14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.16. Dream more while you are awake.17. Envy is a waste of time; you already have all you need.18. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.19. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.20. Realize that life is a school & you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum; the lessons you learn will last your lifetime.21. Smile and laugh more.22. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...23. Call your family often.24. Each day give something good to others.25. Forgive everyone for everything.26. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.27. Try to make at least three people smile each day.28. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. Life :29. Do the right thing!30. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.31. GOD heals everything.32. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.33. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.34. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I am in a Card Exchange Swap on Scrapbook Place Yahoo Group. We sign up each month (or not) and send one card to another participant. That's all, no sweat, no grinding out seventy cards at a time. Just one. And her is my card for January. I almost colored an image and placed it on the cover, but it just wanted some bling. So...

I placed it on the inside of the card. Here sits Riley, toasty warm in his comfy chair, cupcake in one hand and cocoa in the other (He, like me, doesn't like coffee). I added some more silvery bling to the top of the card.

The card is an omen, you know. We're expecting 6-8 inches of snow before the end of the week. It's certainly cold enough, and yet northern Illinois has enjoyed a fairly mild winter.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

I do not like round cards. I never could figure out how to decorate and embellish it. But since learning and trying out new things this year is high on my list of goals for 2010, and since one of my yahoo groups are hosting a swap of shaped cards, I thought I'd bite the bullet and try it on for size. And you know what, I like what I made! I even thought of making a few extra, but the papers and embellishments are all used up. I used paper Studio 3D stickers, a few adhesive backed jewels, and papers from Hobby Lobbly. Oh, and the white paper doily put a nice scalloped spin on it. The sentiment reads: "Always maintain a kind of summer even in the middle of winter."

I stamped the envies with a set of Basic Grey acrylic stamps, and cut additional paper for the inside of the card. A few more jewels and some inking around the edges and voila! a round card made by mwah!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Another year, another 365 days of opportunities to learn, to create, to share, to make friends, to teach, to scrap memories, to love, to live. I think I did an outstanding job on my 2009 New Year's Resolutions, but it's time to move on to a new year. So saying, here ar my 2010 Goals:

1:It's All About ME! - Today I'm starting my "365 Days of Me" album. I plan to take a photo a day and scrap layouts by the week.

2:When you stop Learning, you stop living - I'm going to try at least one new technique a month. It may not be the most recent fad, but it will be something I've never tried before, or something I shy away from because I'm not adept at it.3:Ruthless People - I vow to clean out, simplify, cut down and share what's in my craft room. I will reuse, recycle, and reduce my supplies. I will ruthlessly keep my craft room and supplies organized. Idon't just want to feel like I'm getting somewhere, I want to see my efforts succeed in a cleaner, more organized craft room.

4:Out with the Old - Well, not exactly out, more like scrap the old--photos, I mean. I am still fairly new to scrapbooking and have boxes of printed photos waiting for their home in nice, neat albums. I would like to play "catch-up" with these photos, getting them more organized and onto pages.

So saying, the photo above is my first attemptt at trying new things. I am not comfortable with cards that aren't your standard sizes. I'm not talking boxes, they're fun and not exactly what I'd consider cards. So I made these "purse" cards off a card that was sent to me. It's for a Valentine swap, and the photo below is the "treat" that goes with each card.

(sigh) I lost the photo and now it's at the top of my post. The treat is a Website Address book that i scraplifted from the convention in St. Charles this summer. I think it's a great idea to have one, and if I didn't give them all away, I get to keep one myself.

So that's it, my newest art and my newest crafting goals. Here's to a year filled with discovery, friendship and more time for everyone to do what they love!!